Bakersfield, CA — Public records obtained by Operation Rescue and eye-witness accounts reveal two disturbing incidents that both took place on November 5, 2016, at the FPA abortion facility in Bakersfield, California. Emergency 911 recordings and CAD transcripts show that a 911 call was placed by an FPA employee, at 9:42 a.m. complaining of a patient that has arrived on a motorcycle with a friend, who was “flipping out like crazy” and throwing a helmet around. When the caller could not answer the dispatcher’s questions, another woman, identified as “Maria,” the clinic manager, took the phone. But Maria was surprised...

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — Fourteen people were wounded in a drive-by shooting early Saturday morning while at a house party in south Bakersfield. No one was killed.The Kern County Sheriff's Office said about 150 people were at the party on Stephens Drive, near Belle Terrace and Wible Road. Many of the partygoers were outside the home when the shooter or shooters drove by.

Two fatal shootings over the holiday weekend marked the 13th and 14th homicides by gunfire in the Bakersfield area within the past two months, There have been at least 29 shootings resulting in injury or death in Bakersfield since April 1,

Millions of Californians live in places with dirty air, according to an annual report card issued Wednesday that ranks two major urban areas in the state as the nation’s most polluted. Bakersfield tops the list for having the most unhealthy days from airborne particles spewed by highway traffic, diesel trucks, farm equipment and fireplaces, the American Lung Association’s State of the Air 2016 report says. Los Angeles remains the nation’s leader in harmful ozone pollution from car tailpipes emitting smog, the report says. Air pollution can trigger asthma attacks, heart attacks, lead to lung cancer and cause premature death. […]...

Construction workers in California's Santa Cruz mountains were subject to a surprise delay last week when a team of archaeologists took over the site to remove an ancient whale fossil. The project site was expected to have a high potential for archaeological finds, so a monitor was assigned to the Scotts Valley development and found the fossil amid construction vehicles on Sept. 4. This project site is not the only one in California with fossils ... Since the 19th century, paleontologists have been studying the “Sharktooth Hill Bone Bed” near Bakersfield, California, where fossils and bones of ancient whales, seals,...

In the summer of 2002, shortly before I was elected to Congress, I sat through an eye-opening meeting with representatives from the Natural Resources Defense Council and several local environmental activist groups. Hoping to convince me to support various water restrictions, they argued that San Joaquin Valley farmers should stop growing alfalfa and cotton in order to save water — though they allowed that the planting of high-value crops such as almonds could continue. Then, as our discussion turned to the groups' overall vision for the San Joaquin Valley, they told me something astonishing:

Clown with a gun reported in southwest The latest in a series of creepy clown sightings came shortly before 8 p.m. Saturday when Bakersfield police officers near Valhalla Drive and Belle Terrace responded to a report of a person in a clown suit holding a firearm. Officers checked the area but were unable to find the person. The incident came after a week with numerous calls to police from residents reporting seeing scary or mischievous clowns. "We've had multiple of these clown sightings all over town," said Bakersfield police Lt. Jason Matson. "He was gone by the time we arrived."

Every dog has it's day ... and in the case of the Lab/Chow mix that viciously attacked a little boy only to be scared off by hero cat -- his last day was Saturday. Sources at the Bakersfield animal shelter tell TMZ ... Scrappy was euthanized at the end of a 10-day hold following the attack. We're told the dog was aggressive during his stay at the shelter, even trying to bite a couple of employees. Scrappy was so ornery ... we're told he would try to attack staff even when they tried to give him food and water.

When Delia "Dee" Dominguez's close friend had a vehicle impounded and was left stranded on the side of Kern Canyon Road she decided to take action. Police had taken the car because her friend, an undocumented immigrant, did not have a driver's license.It was that ordeal that inspired Dominguez to participate in a demonstration held Wednesday outside the offices of the Bakersfield Police Department. The demonstration was part of a statewide effort to create a moratorium on impounding the vehicles of unlicensed, illegal immigrants -- many of whom will be able to apply for licenses when a new law takes...

OILDALE, Calif. — The tanker trains loaded with crude oil still rattle down the tracks at the end of the alleyway where Merle Haggard, a living legend of country music, grew up in a boxcar that his father transformed into the family home. “The walls were thick: cool in the summer and warm in winter,” Lillian Haggard Rea, the musician’s 93-year-old sister, recalled of the boxcar that their father, James Haggard, a carpenter with the Santa Fe railroad, converted by hand during the Depression. It was, she said, “just a wonderful home to live in.” Like much of the music...

A man is in critical condition after he was shot in the head by a store clerk, officials said. At about 1 a.m. Monday, Bakersfield police officers were sent to the Mi Tierra Market located at 300 South Owens St. regarding a robbery. Officials said the store clerk told them that he had shot one of the suspects. Officers said they found evidence that was consistent with one of the suspects being shot, but the suspects had since fled from the store. Officers said the clerk said three men entered the business and at least one of the suspects was...

SACRAMENTO -- A day after furious Coloradans recalled two state senators who voted for new gun laws, California lawmakers pressed ahead with their own agenda Wednesday aimed at giving the Golden State the strictest gun control in the country. Colorado's recall elections and California's rush to pass gun bills in the final week of its legislative session quickly reignited the national debate over balancing public safety with constitutional rights. The Colorado votes sent a Rocky Mountain chill down the spines of lawmakers in other battleground states, but those in bright blue California seemed unfazed. "I don't see anybody switching teams...

Two men were fatally shot inside a medical marijuana shop on Chester Avenue Wednesday, marking what may be the first homicides to occur inside a pot dispensary in Kern County. Bakersfield police spokeswoman Michaela Beard said the department received a call at 9:49 a.m. of a shooting inside First Reliable, a medical marijuana collective at 217 Chester Ave. Officers found two people dead inside. Beard said a dark-colored SUVâ€ˆwas seen speeding from the area with a black male driver and an unknown race female passenger.

A woman says that she warned police she was filming a fatal encounter between six of them and another man. She says police took her phone before she could post the video to the Web. There are now suggestions the footage was deleted. Cell phones seem to be causing the police increasing unease. It's quite easy for ordinary people to film officers in the line of duty, and sometimes that duty can seem to be excessively dutiful. This seems to be the view of Maria Melendez, who says she used her phone to film a case of what appeared to...

Citing blighted buildings, polluted property and poor air quality, Forbes Magazine named Bridgeport as the fourth "dirtiest city" in America. But look at the bright side Bridgeport residents: Your city is cleaner than Fresno, Calif.; Bakersfield, Calif.; and Philadelphia. "Green" Mayor Bill Finch, who has frequently touted the BGreen2020 sustainability initiative to improve the quality of life in Bridgeport, was among many from the city to take offense to the ranking. ... The image of Bridgeport put forth by Forbes was similar to its portrayal on FOX's animated comedy show "Family Guy" two years ago, casting the Park City as...

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A 2-year-old boy who was rushed to the hospital after being found floating in a pool has died. Bakersfield police officers were sent to a home at about 3 p.m. Monday in the 2300 block of Sherwood Avenue regarding a baby in the pool not breathing. **** The pool had no gate around it. There were alarms on the doors, but the doors were left open due to the nice weather, DeGeare said. It is unknown how long the baby was in the pool.

Like lovers in Paris, San Joaquin kit foxes will always have Bakersfield. The rare little foxes come out mostly at night. They find fabulous food everywhere: chunks of cheeseburger from dumpsters, shreds of taco on windblown wrappers. And the accommodations: What can beat a cozy den in the student quarter — specifically, beneath portable classrooms in the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District? The 17,000-student district isn't crazy about the foxes, especially when about one-third of its 23 elementary and junior high schools have to deal with them on a regular basis. Administrators have offered a wildlife biologist $25,000 for a...

Sarah Palin spoke publicly over the weekend about the 2012 race for the first time in months, mapping out what she sees as the themes for the presidential election. “These two elections, 2010 and 2012, go hand-in-hand,” Palin said Sunday at a business conference in Bakersfield, according a report from NBC. “The theme of 2010 has got to be rebuke their errors, reject, repeal; and then the theme of 2012 — it's renew, revive and restore.” Up until the weekend, the former Alaska governor had been deflecting almost all 2012 speculation by saying only that she was focused on November’s...

Close to 10,000 people crowded into the Bakersfield Business Conference's main tent to see former Vice President Dick Cheney be "interviewed" by Lynne Cheney, his wife of 46 years. Collecting that many people all under one tent roof is a sight to see, and Mrs. Cheney commented on what a great crowd the conference had brought together. "It's almost enough to make you want to run for office again," the former vice president quipped. "Almost." Dick Cheney worked with four of the five Republican presidents following the Eisenhower administration. With that in mind, Mrs. Cheney asked, "So who's your favorite...